America looked in dominant form once again as they breezed past the Russians with a clinical display that will send shockwaves through the tournament.

Coming into the match off the back of two successive victories over Finland and reigning Olympic champions Canada, the US launched a relentless wave of attacks early on, which saw Lamoureux open the scoring with a deft backhand finish.

Hilary Knight doubled their lead in the second period, before Meghan Duggan effectively ended the game as a contest with America's third.

Olga Sosina pulled one back for the Russians and against the run of play Lyudmila Belyakova cut the deficit to one.

They were mere fleeting moments of worry for the American team though as Lamoureux restored their two-goal advantage and Hannah Brandt then stretched the lead to 5-2.

In the third period, Lamoureux completed her hat-trick before Brianna Decker, Alex Carpenter and Knight's second of the match rounded off a convincing win for the formidable Americans in Group A.

Elsewhere in the group, Canada continued their recovery from their defeat to the United States in their opening match as they cruised to a 6-2 victory over Finland.

Natalie Spooner was the star of the show as she bagged a double and an assist, while Jennifer Wakefield, Brigitte Lacquette, Emily Clark and Courtney Birchard also found the net, and Finnish captain Jenni Hiirikoski's two-goal salvo of her own proved to be scant consolation.

Canada sealed their semi-final spot in IIHF Women's World Championships as they cruised to a 6-2 win over Finland in the Malmö Isstadion ©Getty Images



The result also saw Canada reach the semi-finals and Finland will play Switzerland in the quarter-finals tomorrow.

The contest got off to a lightning start and Lacquette got the breakthrough for Canada, before Spooner doubled their lead shortly after.

Finland, however, were not going down without a fight and Hiirikoski squeezed her shot through a crowd of bodies to get her side back into the match.

The brief revival did not last long though as Wakefield made it 3-1, before Birchard looked to have sealed the win with a fourth goal.

Clark then found the net at a World Championships for the first time in her career to improve Canada's lead even further, and in fitting fashion Spooner bagged the sixth, although the scoring was complete by Hiirikoski but in truth it mattered little.

Anna Borgqvist's opener after 51 seconds set the tone for a comfortable evening for hosts Sweden as they beat Germany 4-0 ©Getty Images



Japan's surprise start to the tournament was ended as they fell to a 3-0 defeat to Switzerland, which secured a top-two finish in Group B for the Swiss side.

Alina Muller, Anja Stiefel and Phoebe Stanz were on target for Switzerland to condemn Japan to their first defeat of the competition.

Sweden surged to the top of Group B as Anna Borgqvist bagged a hat-trick in Sweden's 4-0 win over Germany, and they will now entertain Russia in the last eight tomorrow.

After just 51 seconds, the Swedes had taken the lead thanks to Borgqvist, and that set the tone for what proved to be a comfortable evening for her side.

Germany did gradually fight their way back into the match but they could not find the net, which proved to be their undoing as Sweden scored three more times without reply to condemn the Germans to a best-of-three relegation series with Japan, which also begins tomorrow.

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